Angry? I sure am. Join me and fight for a better future with rbutr

In the light of the post-truth world we now seem to live in, I feel I have no option but to put every resource I have into ensuring the world gets an internet which automatically fights back against misinformation and filter bubbles, and helps promote critical thinking to future generations.

I don’t think rbutr will magically fix the problems the world has. I never did. But I do think rbutr is part of the long-term solution. I think rbutr can help prevent future generations from making the same mistakes of our generation.

I know rbutr will make the world a more rational and well-informed place, and while that may not be enough, it is at least necessary.

So now we make that happen.

Here is what is going to change moving forwards.

Firstly, I am going to start publishing a lot more content. I’m going to revive the best of rbutr emails. I am going to start writing personal analyses of the rebuttals coming through rbutr. I’m going to keep reporting on the progress we’re making with relentless transparency. More emails will start going out. More social media. More calls for help.

Secondly, I am going to much more actively engage with our community and help direct volunteer efforts towards jobs that need doing. I already have two Trelloboards worth of jobs which people can work on, I just need people to start stepping forward to do them.

To this end, I will start holding frequent Google Hangouts where volunteers can ask questions and take part in the discussion around how we plan to get widespread implementation of this concept.

And finally, I am giving up the ‘rbutr can hold no opinion’ approach to all public engagement. Rbutr will always be a neutral platform – that is both built into its simplicity, and a necessary part of how it works. But keeping all subjectivity, personal perspective and opinion out of the rbutr project leaves everything feeling kind of dull. It removes personality from the project and makes it hard to care. So I’m not doing that any more. From now on, I am letting my personality show through rbutr. I am writing what I think, and will invite others who care to write for rbutr to do the same. There is too much on the line to lose rbutr to indifference from people who can’t relate to it.

So, that’s it. They are the few big changes you can expect moving forwards, and I am now calling for volunteers to come and join us. We already have a rbutr working group set up on Facebook, you should join it if you want to work on anything. There is a rbutr subreddit. You can also use that to organise yourselves if you prefer that. The Trello page is a good starting point to see what sorts of jobs are available – there are plenty, and definitely jobs for everyone, regardless of what skills you have.

Shortly, I will post a summary of our current plan (edit: added link to summary post) and timeline so everyone has an idea of what we are trying to achieve, and how we are going to get there.

In the meantime, please share this post around to interested people. Posts to multiple subreddits, forums and Facebook pages are particularly helpful, and it is always best if a true supporter does it and not me. If you are as passionate about solving this problem as I am, then this is a very simple thing you can do which can actually help a lot.

Thanks for your continued support of this project. Let’s go and fix the world.